


We're Inevitable

by BrooklynBooks



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Ellis Island opened in 1892, F/M, Fluff, IrishImmigrant!Jack Kelly, Jack has a twin sister, M/M, Minor Violence, Nightmares, Past Abuse, Slow Burn, as many newsies as I can manage will be here, awesome sibling times, cause newsflash Kelly is an Irish name, happiness for all, happy Jack Kelly, he is brother to both of them, let Davey curse, poor Crutchie has twice the Kelly to deal with, talk about "my father taught me not to starve", thousands of Irish people came to America fleeing famine, when Jack was 10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 04:44:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14036430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrooklynBooks/pseuds/BrooklynBooks
Summary: Davey Jacobs meets Jack Kelly's twin sister, newly released from the Refuge.





	We're Inevitable

**Author's Note:**

> The headlines used here are actual headlines from the New York Times online archives, September 1899, a month after the historical newsie strike.  
> The song the twins sing is Step It Out Mary by the High Kings.  
> I hope you guys like this. I had a lot of fun writing it.

Most newsies had never met Jack Kelly’s sister, but when she walked out of the Refuge and reunited with her brother by tackling him no one doubted the resemblance. Alice Kelly had followed her brother in birth by a margin of two minutes and spent the next seventeen years of her life doing the same, right down to their two inch height difference. It may have landed her in the Refuge, but she preferred rats to Jack left on his own. Snyder had extended Alice’s sentence inside the Refuge indefinitely on account of her gender and the unfortunate state she left his office in the first time she and Jack escaped, resorting to handcuffs to keep her inside. When the governor shut down the jail, she could finally walk free. 

The newsies of Lower Manhattan, all except for Crutchie who had known both Kellys in and out of the Refuge, were not ready when a slightly shorter, slightly quieter version of Jack Kelly joined their ranks. 

“S’it true she use ta bum around with Spot Conlon, back before the Refuge?” Finch asked Crutchie the morning Alice started. 

Crutchie made a face, as if he’d caught a whiff of Mush’s morning breath. “Where’d ya hear that? They’se never met.”

“Well I heard they’se used to be sweet on each other,” Romeo said, plunking down on the wagon next to Crutchie, somehow making everything rock even with his small size. 

“Now ya making stuff up,” Crutchie insisted. “Alice Kelly ain’t never been near him.”

“Who ain’t I been near?” Alice herself appeared around the far side of the wagon, a few steps behind her brother. All newsies spoke through one thick accent or another, but she had a twinge of Irish brogue that once they had only heard from Jack. 

“Spot Conlon,” Jack said, matching the lilt of her voice. “He runs ‘em Brooklyn newsies.”  


Finch piped up. “Me and Racer’s got a bet goin’, see. Says you and Spot were sorta friendly before the Refuge.” 

“Really?” Alice smirked, propping her elbow on her brother’s shoulder. 

While she leaned on him, all three boys at the wagon were struck by the sight of the twins, as if they were watching a pair of musicians play in perfect sync. Alice wore a set of her brother’s clothes, which had the effect of making her look smaller than she was, her dark brown hair haphazardly braided back under one of his hats. The twins’ deep set eyes flickered a dark blue and a slow fire burned behind their faces. After seeing Jack during the strike, watching his anger eat away at him however righteous, they could guess where the twin flames came from. 

“What would I need’ta go to Brooklyn for?” Alice asked, an ever-widening smile spreading across her face. 

“Dammit,” Finch whined, dropping his head on to Romeo’s shoulder, who patted his arm in sympathy. “I bet one’a my slingshots on that.” 

In twos and threes, the rest of the Manhattan newsies filtered into Newsies Square and Jack took the time before the circulation bell to introduce them all to his long imprisoned sister. It seemed to Alice, in the way Jack spoke about them all, that she had gained a dozen more brothers in the time she’d been gone. 

Just as the circulation bell rang, two more newsies ran into the square, a small, scruffy boy of about nine or ten and a tall boy around Jack’s age. Their clothes were a little neater and a little cleaner than the other newsies and Alice took it as a sure sign that parents were involved. Once upon a time, she might have felt a pang of jealousy, but her extended stay in the Refuge had her more than grateful for still having Jack. When Jack saw them, he smiled and bounced over to them, dragging Alice along. 

“Les! Davey! I got someone ya should meet,” Jack said, clapping a hand on the shoulder of one boy and the head of the little one.

“How’re ya.” Alice offered a hand to the tall boy, but before he could react the little one took it. 

“Yer Alice Kelly!” He shouted, shaking her hand hard enough to jostle his hat. “S’it true you was in the Refuge ‘cause you soaked Snyder?”

Alice stepped back from the boy, unsure what to say, but her brother just threw his head back and laughed. 

The tall boy smacked Jack on the arm and said, “Don’t encourage him. Les, I told ya not to ask kids why they were in the Refuge.”

“But she’s Jack’s twin!” Les shouted. He seemed to have only one volume—louder than his brother. Alice cringed a little. 

“All the more reason ya shouldn’t be askin’,” Davey said, earning a scowl from the little boy. He shook his head then turned to Alice and said, “Sorry. I’m Davey Jacobs, this is my brother Les.” 

Heat flushed across Alice’s cheeks when he met her eyes. Davey Jacobs had a wide, honest face and the softest brown eyes. He kept her gaze steadily, as though he’d found something in her face worth memorizing. Alice hoped her freckles would hide her blush. 

Davey watched Alice Kelly’s face glowing red beneath her freckles. He thought of Jack’s paintings of Santa Fe and the sunrise over the city. She stared at him with wide eyes and he hoped Les hadn’t offended her before they’d even properly met. 

Jack narrowed his eyes as he made a note of how the silence lasted a second too long before someone broke it. 

“I’m Alice,” Alice managed, feeling suddenly loud and awkward. “The better looking Kelly twin.”

“Hey!” Jack made a show of clutching his chest in mock hurt, which made Les giggle. 

Davey smiled wide and rubbed absently at the back of his neck. “I can see that.”

“Oh, I’m crushed, Dave. Is this how we’se treatin’ friends now?” Jack whined, stealing Davey’s hat and messing with his hair. Alice saw them both smiling and her heart sang. Her brother hadn’t ever really been alone. 

“You the same Davey that thought up the strike?” 

Now Davey flushed red as he stole his hat back. “Well, Jack really—” 

“Aw, tell her Davey,” Jack crowed, slinging an arm around Davey’s shoulders. “Like I’ve been tellin’ the fellas, you’se the brains. I’se just translatin’ is all.”

“Papes for the newsies! Line up, boys!” A man shouted from the other side of the square and the boys watched as Alice jumped.

“Is just Weasel,” Jack assured her, moving from Davey to his sister. “We’d better get ya some papes to sell!”

Alice and the boys lined up with the other newsies at the window where an old, heavy set man stood with two dull-looking goons behind him. She watched as Jack sauntered up and greeted Weasel with a shit-eating grin and a mock salute. 

“Weasel! I’ll take a hundred. Fifty for me and fifty for the new kid.” Jack reached back and hauled Alice forward, keeping his arm around her shoulders. 

“I thought you was with that girl reporter,” One of the goons sneered. “What? She finally trade ya in?”

Jack’s expression collapsed and his anger boiled beneath his skin. “I know there’s no difference in your family, Oscar, but this here’s my sister not my girl.”

The two goons nearly jumped through the window to get at Jack, but Weasel hauled them back with an exhausted look on his face. “You bust these kids up again and they’se gonna be sackin’ us all!” He shouted at them. 

A quiet smile slipped onto Jack’s face as he walked away, showing his sister how to fold her papers in her bag. The strike had changed more than he ever could have hoped for. Governor Roosevelt had been watching both Weasel and the Delanceys closely, meaning they stayed clear of the newsies if they could help it. His sister stood at his side again and he watched her smile, a rare thing that he hoped she might have more reasons for now, as Davey and Les joined them. 

“You’ll sell with us today, so’s you can learn the ropes. Later we’ll get ya a sellin’ partner,” Jack told her.

“It ain’t that hard, surely?” Alice hummed as she scanned the headline in her hands—Girl Disables Burglar with Silver Comb.

Jack scoffed a little, nudging her. “You ain’t tried it yet. But, ya know, Davey here picked it up alright and he doesn’t even know how ta lie.”

Davey shot Jack a look. “I know how to lie.”

“Sure.” Jack drew the word out, raising an eyebrow and looking altogether unconvinced. “You go an’ prove me wrong, Davey.”

Time selling newspapers flew by for Alice, but then, time had been doing that a lot since leaving the Refuge. As much time as she’d spent avoiding fights or the guards’ ire, the Refuge was still a jail, which meant she and the others had lots of downtime and no way to fill it. 

Still she nearly cried with relief everytime the wind blew through her braids or the sun peaking through the autumn clouds warmed her skin. Living trapped indoors for so long had made her miss Ireland for the first time. They might have been starving, but they were free. The freedom of being a newsie made up for the difficulties that might come with the job, she decided. No wonder Jack choose this life.

Night fell fast and the wind picked up, thick with the wild smell of a storm. Alice managed to sell her last paper right before Davey, which had Jack dancing her around in circles, proclaiming her a natural newsie. She privately disagreed but, having forgotten that her brother could be giddy, she kept it to herself.

“Just you watch,” He said while Davey sold his last paper across the street. “Soon you’ll be outselling me and Crutchie put together!”

“If ya say so, Jackie-boy,” Alice laughed, nudging him so he’d stop spinning her. 

“I do say so, Allie-girl,” Jack declared and tweaked her nose. His sister was safe and smiling again; he could have burst out singing. 

“Allie-girl?” Les echoed just as his brother walked up behind him.

“I didn’t know you could dance,” Davey said, chuckling as Jack tapped out something resembling a jig. 

“He can’t,” Alice told him. 

Davey laughed and she decided she liked the sound. He seemed more his own age when he laughed, his seriousness and worry dropped away. 

“You know, Jack,” Davey started and Jack stood still enough to listen. “Our folks still want to meet ya, ever since the strike. Why don’t you both come to dinner with us?”

Alice watched her brother’s smile drop a fraction, becoming strained at the edges. She knew what was coming.

“Aw, Dave, that’d be great, but, uh, see Miss Medda, she—”

“Jackie.” Alice stopped him gently. “One dinner won’t hurt no one.”

“You’ll come then!” Les shouted, not quite as a question, and dragged Jack off by the sleeve before he could protest. Davey and Alice laughed as they followed behind.

“The wee one’s quite a lot, innit he?” Alice watched as Les hauled Jack down the street in front of them, babbling excitedly about food and his family. “Reminds me a’Jack when we were little.”

“Really?” Davey had never pictured Jack as a child before. His standing among newsies, Manhattan or otherwise, was so indisputable that Davey couldn’t imagine a time where he’d been anything but sauntering, smart-mouthed cowboy Jack Kelly. 

“Yeah,” Alice said, smiling softly. “We must ta been Les’ age when we came here. I was so terrified ta leave. I’ve always been the quiet one between us, but Jack, nah, Jack thought it an adventure…” 

Alice’s face suddenly fell in on itself, her bright eyes clouding over and Davey almost asked what awful thought had dimmed them. He stopped himself when his imagination caught up. Jack Kelly had made it clear that, like most newsies, he didn’t have folks and if Davey had learned anything from being a newsie it was not to ask about them.

“Did ya like it there?” Davey asked instead.

Alice shrugged and the darkness had not left her face. While she fiddled with her braid, Davey caught sight of a fading bruise on her jaw. His stomach clenched at the thought of her, Jack Kelly’s quiet, beautiful sister, trapped in the Refuge. He thought he understood Jack’s anger better now.

“Sure,” Alice said finally. “It was all we’d ever known, of course we did, but… I don’t miss starvin’.”

Davey nodded absently, churning with guilt. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

Alice appeared to shake herself a little and a smile slipped onto her face, Davey could tell she forced it. “No. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t… Ireland’s beautiful. I miss the music and the dancing, the stories.” She stopped and wrapped her arms around herself as if she were suddenly cold, even though the city had not quite forgotten summer.

“Well,” Davey said, feeling awkward, but determined to bring back her smile. “I’m glad you’re here—you’re both here.”

She did truly smile then and a warmth spread through Davey’s chest, like bleeding but better. He found himself wanting to fight for that smile.

“Thanks, Davey.” Alice opened her mouth to say more, to say how grateful she was that he had found her brother and stuck by him, how incredibly happy she was to be able meet him, but Les shouted suddenly.

“Here we are!”

They’d arrived at the Jacobs’ home. Alice understood that a tiny apartment in a fire-trap of a building was not necessarily something most people were proud of, but she knew that if she lived in the Jacobs’ tiny apartment, she would be. The warm smell of food struck her first as Davey led them through the front door and both her and Jack’s stomach growled loudly. The twins exchanged an embarrassed glance between them, praying that the others hadn’t heard that. 

“Ma?” Davey called as they stepped into the main room. “We’re home. We brought Jack and his sister for dinner.”

From what Alice could tell, the Jacobs’ apartment was small, one room, a kitchen, and a loft above, but just as neat and clean as the Jacobs boys themselves. They lived in a place where they were loved, this was how kids were supposed to be raised, and it made Alice sick with memories from the Refuge. She felt Jack’s gaze on her and when she looked at him, he nodded and set a hand on her shoulder. He knew what was in her head because it was in his head too. 

A man and a woman appeared from the kitchen and Alice would have known they were Davey and Les’s parents without any introduction. She found Davey’s honest face and Les’s easy smile in their father, while their large ears and soft amber eyes clearly could be seen in their mother. 

“Pleasure to finally meet you,” Mr. Jacobs shook Jack’s hand hard, just like Les had shaken hers that morning. “That strike was a brave thing you boys did.”

Jack’s face went pink from the praise and he opened his mouth to protest. Alice wanted to smack him and just make him accept it for once. 

“We couldn’t be more proud,” Mrs. Jacobs said before Jack could speak, reaching both up and down to ruffle her sons’ hair.

Davey seemed to shrink before his parents, as if he were trying to take up as little room in the apartment as possible. Yet he smiled all the same and Alice could see how much he wanted his friends and his parents to like each other. When his eyes caught her, eyes the color of new shoes or the string that held her braid, her breath caught in her chest. 

“This is Alice,” He said, taking her gently by the elbow and bringing her forward. “She just started today.”

“Lovely to meet you, dear,” Mrs. Jacobs took her hands. “I hope my boys were on their best behavior for you on your first day.”

“Ma.” Davey covered his face with one hand in embarrassment.

Alice laughed nervously and said, “Of course. It’s because of their strike I’m finally free after all.” She realized her mistake as soon as it left her lips. 

Mrs. Jacobs gasped. “You mean that… Refuge?”

Alice froze and Jack slung his arm around her shoulders, a hard edge set to his face. He didn’t spare a glance for the Jacobs family. 

“The… the governor closed it down after the strike,” Davey explained quickly. “Remember I showed you Katherine’s article? Those were Jack’s drawings of the Refuge.”

Both Jacobs wore horrified expressions. Davey’s mother reached out again, but stopped when Jack tightened his hold on his sister.

“I am so sorry,” Mrs. Jacobs said, with pain etching deep lines across her face.

Alice drew up a smile and stood straighter so Jack would know to let her go. “Nothin’ to worry about. Like he said, the governor shut it down.”

That seemed to strike a chord in the Jacobses and soon their mother shooed them all towards the kitchen table. Alice fought the urge to run while the dinner went on slowly around her. She hardly said a word. When Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs did finally release them, Mrs. Jacobs stopped Alice before opening the door. 

“You remind me a little of my daughter, Sarah,” She said. “She’s married now and a teacher outside the city. We don’t see her much. She’s quiet too, but kind and clever. And we are so proud.” At these words, Mrs. Jacobs touched her chin lightly and smiled. Alice could only nod, but a quiet smile found its way to her as she and Jack silently walked home. 

When Crutchie woke to the morning bell the next day, he found both Kellys already wide awake on the lodging house roof. 

“You’se ready already?” Crutchie asked, pulling himself up so he could balance against the rooftop. 

“Sure thing, Crutchie,” Jack said, handing him his crutch. “We Kellys are early risers.” He smiled through the obvious circles under his eyes. 

“Or bad sleepers,” Crutchie shot back. He knew what nightmares looked like on a Kelly. 

“Can’t be helped, Crutchie,” Alice said as she stretched out the crick in her back. She wondered, not for the first time, if stone was somehow harder here in New York. 

Crutchie didn’t say anything as they left for the morning; he wasn’t one for lecturing, especially when he knew it wouldn’t help the Kelly twins sleep at night. The sky churned an inky black as they arrived in Newsies Square. No one would need to ask him if it would rain, the clouds had made their own headline. 

“Sell quick, boys!” Jack warned the newsies. “It ain’t gonna hold up long.”

Everyone groaned, except Elmer, who sold under the arch of a nearby Catholic church, and Les, who could sell in a hurricane.

“Better split up today, Davey,” Jack said, squinting at the sky. “Why don’t ya take Alice with ya.”

Alice yawned her assent and didn’t notice how Davey glanced at her, running his hand through the hair under his hat. She followed Davey as they walked to his selling spot, a street corner near the Brooklyn bridge. 

“Did Jack do that?” Davey asked suddenly, pointing to the charcoal swirls he’d noticed on Alice’s arms. 

“Hm?” Alice looked down distractedly and held her arms out in front of her. “Oh, sure. Jack draws when he can’t sleep. He knows I like the patterns from Ireland.” She gestured at the different knots and designs up and down her forearms. It made her look wild and out of place on the New York city streets, as if she were a standing stone made to breathe and wrenched from her land.

“Doesn’t it keep you awake?”

Alice waved him off. “Oh, I’d be awake anyway.”

Davey scowled, but they had already reached his selling spot when he opened his mouth to ask what she meant. As soon as they started calling out the headline—John Fiske’s New Book Released—the skies opened up. 

“Damn,” Alice muttered, pulling her hat down further over her eyes and shivering.

Davey watched her climb up onto a nearby lamppost, clutching a paper in one hand. “What are you doing?”

“Slander and scandal revealed in new book!” She shouted, louder than Davey thought her to be capable of. “Terrifies readers and critics alike!”

Soon, the few papers they’d taken for the day were gone and paid for. Davey stood numb on the street corner with his mouth hanging open.

“Come on,” Alice grumbled as she stepped down off the lamppost, “Let’s get out of the rain.”

Davey offered her his hand to help her down and she smiled as she took it. “I think Jack may be right,” He said. “You are a natural.”

Alice shot him a disbelieving look. “What? On account of I don’t like gettin’ rained on?”

“You sold all our papes with one headline.”

“We only had twenty each, Davey. Jack sells twice that, doesn’t he?”

“Sure, but—”

“Could be people don’t like gettin’ rained on either.”

“Just let me give ya a compliment, would ya?”

Alice looked up to see a crooked smile on Davey’s face as he shook his head at her, but that wasn’t why her cheeks burned. She had laced her fingers with Davey’s and hadn’t even thought about it. He stood close enough that he kept some of the rain out of her eyes, that warmth radiated around her. His eyes glowed in the half-light of the cloud blackened sky, like soft brown lanterns shining in the dark. 

“What do we do now?” She asked softly, unable and unwilling to let her gaze drop from his.

Davey blinked to remind himself that time kept moving. He’d been memorizing the pattern of her freckles. “I...I guess we meet everyone at Jacobi’s.”

She smiled impishly and the wings of butterflies flashed around inside Davey. He thought that smile made her look every bit like a wild fae from Ireland.

“Race ya,” She whispered, then took off like a shot down the slick streets. 

A single laugh burst out of Davey before he dashed after her. In a straight race, Davey might have been faster, but Alice weaved through the city streets like they weren’t even there. The streets of Galway, Ireland were a labyrinth, far from the careful grid system of New York. She’d known them as well as she knew her own brother by virtue of being born and raised among them, but New York was an intuitive system she had learned quickly. 

Davey soon lost sight of her in the crush of brown-grey buildings. But he knew these streets far from just intuitively, having chased Les up and down them half his life, and he knew the quickest way to Jacobi’s. 

Alice thought herself secure in her victory as she approached Jacobi’s and waved at the newsies outside waiting to be let in. Just as she slowed down, Davey crashed into her from an alleyway. He picked her up and spun her around, making her laugh. Even when he set her back on the ground, her heart still soared inside her chest. 

“A tie, then?” She said, breathless, gripping his arms to keep upright. His hands rested carefully around her waist. 

“Sure.” 

“What the hell, Dave?” 

Jack appeared out of the knot of newsies with Les and Crutchie behind him, looking more confused than angry. Davey Jacobs, the most serious person he knew, had just picked up and spun his sister, the other most serious person he knew, and both of them were giggling. They were breathless and flushed red from running through the streets, but more importantly, they both smiled like he’d never seen before.

When Davey saw Jack, he let her go and shoved his hands in his pockets. Race’s jaw had dropped so fast that his cigar lay forgotten on the street. Specs had put his glasses away to protect them from the rain, forcing him to lean over and ask Romeo what was happening. Albert rolled his eyes and mimed throwing up until Henry smacked him with his hat. Alice merely crossed her arms and stared her brother down.

Then Jack smirked. “Rain make it hard to sell? You’re late.”

Jacobi opened the doors for them and the newsies clamored into the deli, most of them happy to follow Jack’s lead and let whatever just happened go for now. 

As the newsies spread out among the tables and badgered Jacobi, a girl stepped into the building, her beautiful clothes dripping from the rain. Judging from how Jack’s face lit up when he saw her, Alice guessed she must be Katherine Plumber. 

“Katherine!” He called, jogging over to pull her into a hug and plant a kiss on her forehead.  


When they heard her name, the newsies leapt up and ran to greet her. Alice sat on top of a table and waited. Jack had told her everything about Katherine, from the strike and her article that helped bring down the Refuge, to their kiss. She knew why Jack liked her, but when she saw Katherine with the newsies, fussing over a cut in JoJo’s forehead, helping Buttons dry off Crutchie’s crutch, congratulating Tommy Boy on taking a newsie from Brooklyn on a date, Alice thought she understood why she liked Jack. 

“Katherine, there’s someone ya have ta meet,” Jack said, pulling her over to Alice while the other newsies settled back at the tables. “This is Alice, my sister. Alice, this is Katherine, she—”

“Saved me from a long time in the Refuge, so I hear,” Alice interrupted. Katherine laughed as they shook hands. 

“I think Jack’s drawings did that,” Katherine said. “He told me all about you. I’m happy to see you safe and away from that place.”

“Well, thank you anyway. Nice to see a girl out and makin’ a difference.”

Katherine grinned and Alice easily imagined herself folding her into their little family. She would give Jack hell if he ever let her go. 

Alice sat on her table, content to listen to the others ramble and tease and prattle on with each other. The noise floated around her and mixed with the rain, easing her tension and exhaustion. Then she caught Les saying her name.

“What was that, wee man?” Alice asked, leaning towards him where he sat next to Davey on her table. 

“Won’t ya tell us about Ireland?” 

That caught the rest of the newsies’ attention and they were all suddenly calling and shouting, begging her to tell them about the land she came from. Davey swallowed hard and appeared suddenly sick.

“Les, don’t—”

“It’s alright,” Alice said, resting a hand on Davey’s shoulder. “I’ll tell ya, if Jack’ll help me.”

“Do I have ta?” Jack whined from where he sat next to Katherine, resting his head on her shoulder with an arm curled around her waist. Katherine poked his face until he smiled.  
“Alright, fine, I’ll help, just… stop.” He held Katherine’s hands still and Alice watched them laugh together. 

Nothing made her smile quite like seeing her brother happy and Katherine made him happier than she’d ever seen him in New York. The smile that sat content in her expression could have calmed the storm outside and it certainly calmed Davey. The color returned to his skin and he stopped glancing around the room as if he were about to be soaked.

“The best thing I remember from Ireland,” said Alice, “is the music and the dancin’. What do ya say, Jackie? Shall we sing Mum’s song for the boys?”

The newsies hollered and cheered until Jack agreed, although it didn’t take much encouragement. His sister wanted to sing. He hadn’t heard her sing since before the Refuge. Jack would have sung every drinking song he knew for her if she asked. Their mother’s song was special, she said she taught it to the twins to remind them of what was important, but it also told the story of how she married their father.

“You go on, Alice.” And Alice sang.

~In the village of Kilgory there’s a maiden young and fair, her eyes they shine like diamonds, she has long and golden hair  
The horseman came up riding, riding up to her father’s gate, on a pure white stallion and he comes at the strike of eight~

Davey stared, all the newsies stared, but he fixed Alice with his eyes and wouldn’t let go. The lilt of her voice rang clear and strong. When he had heard Miss Medda sing, he thought of big brass instruments and drums. She took the room by the shoulders and shook it until it couldn’t help but listen to her. But Alice sang with the wind and the sun in her voice. She did not command attention, but stole it so cleverly that you would have asked her to do it again. At least, Davey would have.

Then Jack took his turn. 

~I’ve come to court your daughter, Mary of the golden hair, I have gold and I have silver, I have goods beyond compare  
I’ll buy her silks and satins and a gold ring for her hand, I’ll build her a mansion, she’ll have servants to command~

Alice thought her brother seemed terribly aware of where he sat as he sang those words. He flushed a dark red and kept glancing at Katherine. She bet it made him think of all the things he would offer Katherine if he could, if things were different. When Alice began the last verse, she sang with more fire than she might have otherwise. Her brother needed reminded of why their mother taught them this song. 

~I don’t want your gold and silver, I don’t want your house and land, I am in love with a soldier, I have promised him my hand  
But the father spoke up sharply, you will do as I command, you’ll be married on a Sunday and you’ll wear that wedding band~

Here, as Alice and Jack knew it, the song ended. Many of the newsies looked on in awe and then confusion as the words sank in. Race slowly raised a hand.

“So, who’d she marry, your mother?” He asked. 

Jack and Alice grinned brightly; Davey thought he saw pride in their eyes. 

“The soldier,” Alice explained. “Our mum used to say that she chose our da’ because love was more important than gold.”

Race nodded, a smile sliding into place around his unlit cigar, and he smacked Albert with his hat when he started making retching sounds. He thought about a boy in Brooklyn with a smile rarer than gold. Race knew he’d trade all his gambling money just to see it once more. 

“That was lovely.” They all jumped when Jacobi came back into the room. “But you kids have to go, I got payin’ customers comin’.”

The newsies groaned and griped at Jacobi as they hopped off tables and out of chairs, filing out into the rain. It had turned from a thick autumn shower into a roaring storm that threatened hats, Spec’s glasses, and the smaller newsies’ balance. Davey scowled into the wind and had Les climb on to his back, while Jack did the same with Crutchie.

“You sure ya can make it back home in this?” Alice asked him, as the wind tore at her hair until it stung against her face. A coach had just materialized out of the rain to take Katherine away. She thought she saw an irritated old man glaring at them from the shadows within.

Davey squinted out at the storm and then looked back at his brother, who had one hand tight around Davey’s neck and the other clamped on his hat. Both Kellys saw the concern ripple across his face. 

As he started to speak, Jack stopped him. “Why don’t we set ya up in the Lodging House, wait this out?” Crutchie nodded encouragingly, his face peeking around Jack’s like a second head. 

Davey knew the Lodging House was closer to Jacobi’s than his family’s apartment. He knew his parents would be worried about him and Les not coming home, but trusted Jack to look after them. He knew he wanted to stay with Alice and all the newsies to make sure they were safe. He knew all this, but he still hesitated. 

“Please, Davey,” Alice said. “I don’t like the look’a this storm. I… surely, your parents wouldn’t want you and Les out in it.”

Her dark blue eyes pulled at Davey, worry drawing them up tight. He thought of how she couldn’t mention her mother or father outside of the past tense and his resolve to brave the storm crumbled. He didn’t even want her to think about losing anyone else in her life. He nodded and shouldered Les a little higher on his back. 

“Let’s hurry,” Davey said and relief flooded over the Kellys’ faces. 

Jack led them through the rain and, when they arrived at the slouching shadow of the Lodging House, he stood outside and counted heads with Race until they were sure everyone had made it safely. He set Davey and Les up in empty bunks next to his and Crutchie’s, while Alice went to her own on the other side of the room. 

She had fought for this bunk. At first, Jack had wanted her to have her own room, but after hearing her nightmares he designated her a bunk in the room he shared with Crutchie, Race, and Specs—at least when he didn’t sleep on the rooftop. It made things easier for both of them and, as Alice had said, they didn’t have the space anyway. 

Sleep found her sooner than she thought it would, something about the rain had exhausted her or maybe it was talking about her mother. Either way, her dreams found her. 

Sometimes, she dreamt about watching her mother die on the ship to America, pregnant with the sibling she’d never know. Jack had gotten sick along with her and almost didn’t make it. Alice didn’t know how many times she’d held him as he threw up over the ship’s side, the world lurching below them. She remembered seeing her father’s red-ringed eyes when he gave their mother up to the sea. He didn’t cry then, but he did when Jack recovered. 

Other times, her dreams imagined the factory accident that killed her father, something she hadn’t seen. Somehow, that made it worse. Giant, mechanical monsters always came to take him away and usually they came for Jack too, pulling them into the ground under the factory. Jack had told her about the accident and a man who worked with their father had told him when he went looking. Without their father, they were suddenly homeless. She couldn’t remember crying, but then, there had never been a moment to mourn. 

Most nights, she dreamt about Jack dying or Jack watching her die in the Refuge. Both made her jolt awake with her brother’s name lodged in her throat. Tonight was one of those nights. 

A roll of thunder had drowned out her screaming, so when Alice woke up, for a moment, she forgot she had left the Refuge. She curled up into a corner of her bunk and clamped a hand over her mouth, determined to make as little noise as possible. At the Refuge, kids were sometimes beaten for screaming in their sleep. She didn’t remember where she was until she heard Davey say her name. 

“Alice?” He said again, louder, thinking she hadn’t heard him over the rain.

“What are ya doin’ up, Davey?” Her voice shook and she couldn’t help the tears running down her face.

His eyebrows knit together and ridges appeared in his forehead when he saw her cry. “I heard you shouting. Do you want me to wake up Jack?”

Alice scanned the room for her brother and found him sleeping flat on his stomach, an arm and a leg hanging over the bunk. A twist of guilt hit her stomach. She refused to wake him on purpose.

“No. Let ‘im sleep. He needs it.”

“What can I do?”

Alice’s eyes flicked back to where Davey knelt in front of her. He watched her purse her lips and curl her legs even tighter against her chest. The whole of her shook badly, he could feel it as he held on to the side of the bunk’s metal frame. 

“Go back to sleep. I’ll be fine,” She said as she turned away, her eyes suddenly cloudy. 

“You don’t seem fine. Let me help you.”

Something like a laugh came out of her, but Davey had heard her real one and this was bitter and broken and hardly a laugh by comparison. “Can’t be helped, Davey.”

“Bullshit,” He hissed, surprising Alice, making her look at him again.

His jaw was set and his eyes met her softly, but steadily. The frown he gave her, nothing more than his lips bunched tight together, spoke more of determination than anger. She wondered if he had looked something like this during the strike. 

“I have nightmares,” She told him, uncurling and tapping the space next to her. He moved to sit there, so close his warmth nudged her gently. “Ever since losin’ our mother. Jack has ‘em too. They got worse when our father died, then again after the Refuge.” She winced. Exhaustion always loosened her lips. “But everyone’s lost someone,” She added quickly. “It ain’t nothin’ to speak of.”

Davey’s frown deepened. “You said Jack draws when he can’t sleep. What do you do?”  


She laughed again, if it could be called that, humorless and bitter as she made it. “I wait for sunrise.”

When Alice looked at him then, she didn’t see judgement or pity or any number of things she’d seen on the faces of Jack and Crutchie. He frowned at his hands like he had math equations written there. He wanted to help her solve this, but what mattered to Alice was that he thought it could be solved at all. 

She reached out and took one of his hands, even though hers shook. His head snapped up and she found herself, again, trying to place what the color in his widening eyes reminded her of exactly. The coffee the nuns made every morning maybe, or pine cones in the park, the books her mother left behind, or chocolate and new shoes on her birthday, her father’s violin. It was safety she saw in Davey, not just survival, and she wanted to be safe.

“Do you want me to wait with you?” He asked, curling his fingers in between hers. 

“Yes.”

They sat there together with the storm raging outside. Davey smiled when Alice’s shaking stopped and she rested her head against his shoulder. And then, miracle of miracles, she fell asleep, settled warm and safe against him. He laid her back down on the bunk and was about to leave when he realized that would require letting go of her hand. Davey decided to lay down next to her instead of breaking the tight curl of their fingers. Besides, it wasn’t sunrise yet. He would still wait with her. 

Just before the morning bell, Alice woke to find herself nestled in Davey’s arms, their legs tangled together, and her head tucked under his chin. She blushed furiously when she found one of her hands embedded in his hair. But Davey breathed deeply and slowly, still very much asleep, and she could feel the movement of his chest against her own. She never wanted to move again, wanted to make time stop so she could stay here, safe, in his arms. 

Then she looked up and saw Race leaning against the bunk, giving her his smuggest grin. Her blush deepened, if that was possible. Just as he opened his mouth to shout, likely waking the entire block and bringing all the newsies down on her, she hissed at him.

“Finish that thought, Anthony Higgins, and I’ll tell Spot ya buy Brooklyn cigars just so’s ya have an excuse to see him.”

Race’s smile only grew and Alice’s stomach sank. “He already knows.” Race winked and then the shouting began. 

Davey jolted awake, looking to Alice with worry and concern, holding her tighter, but then he saw Race above them, calling to the rest of the newsies and his panic faded. Before, a situation like this would have scared Davey witless, but ever since the strike he found less and less to be frightened of. Alice watched him scowl at Race and the advancing newsies, red spreading across his cheekbones, before turning towards her. His eyes were asking her what to do. 

Alice didn’t move until Jack and Crutchie woke up and by then most of the newsies had crowded into the room. She stared Jack down as she stood up, reluctantly accepting the chill in the air as she removed herself from Davey, who now stood firmly beside her. The teasing had started.

Elmer was singing. “Davey and Alice, sittin’ in a tree—”

“Good lord, Elmer, what are ya? Nine?” Alice snapped at him. “Davey sat with me ‘cause I couldn’t sleep. It ain’t a crime.”

Elmer stuck his tongue out at her and laughed along with Race. 

“Sure,” Specs said, barely containing his own laughter. “And endin’ up asleep in his arms was an accident.”

“She yer girl now, Davey?” Les asked, making the newsies erupt with calls and shouts.

Davey shot his brother a look, but didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what he should say.

JoJo was chanting, “Davey’s got a girlfriend,” when Jack spoke up. 

“Alright, enough!” Jack shouted and the jeering stopped. “Get out’a here. There’s papes to sell, don’t just stand here gawkin’.”

The newsies scattered, leaving Alice and Davey with Jack. Whatever anger he’d worn in front of the others faded, leaving worry behind. 

“You have a nightmare again?” He asked, stepping up to his sister, who visibly relaxed. 

“Yeah.”

Guilt flashed across Jack’s face. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for ya,” He said, then he turned to Davey. “Thanks for being there for her.”

Davey blinked. “You aren’t gonna soak me?”

Jack laughed, making Alice smile. “Would she soak Katherine for being with me?” He said, throwing an arm around his sister’s shoulders. “Nah, Alice makes her own choices, more good ones than not. Meet ya on the street, kid.” Jack ruffled her hair.  


Davey stood slightly dumb-founded and stared after Jack as he left to gather the other newsies for the day. 

Alice grinned as the morning bell rang outside. “You heard the man,” She said, throwing Davey a wink. “Let’s hit the street.”

She went out and sold with Jack, Davey, and Les. The day dragged on, partly because newsies kept appearing to heckle Davey or Alice, but also because the headline stank like Romeo’s socks—New Window Installed at Harvard. When the sun sank below the buildings and the others were done, Alice still had papers.

Davey tried convincing her to sell them back to Weasel, as did Jack, and Les offered to sell them for her, but she declined. She wanted to try selling on her own. After telling the boys as much, she sent them on to Jacobi’s and told them she’d catch up. 

At first, her decision didn’t seem so bad. She made up a story about a disgruntled student smashing windows and her last few papers sold. By then, the sun had disappeared altogether and she started the walk to Jacobi’s in the dark. Only when she heard voices behind her, gruff, angry, male voices, did she feel any fear. 

“Would ya look at that, Oscar. Ain’t it the Kelly girl.”

“It is indeed. What’d ya say we welcome her ta the neighborhood?”

A strong arm pinned her back against an alleyway, but all she could see was a set of rotten teeth. Alice kicked and lashed out, managing to dislodge one of the Delanceys. She tried to run until a swift kick took the legs out from under her. The beating that followed she could handle, but the Delanceys seemed to be looking for something worse. 

“Let Kelly try and get us sacked now!” 

She heard one man shout before blinding pain exploded again and again in her stomach. In the dark, she caught a glint of bright metal. Someone had a knife and knew how to use it.

They left her there, bleeding out in the alleyway, cursing both herself and the Delanceys in kind. She couldn’t die, she couldn’t do that to Jack. Her throat closed and her chest tightened, making breathing impossible. She tried to stand, but exhaustion struck her hard and suddenly all she wanted to do was sleep. 

When Davey found her half an hour later, she wouldn’t wake up. When he picked her up and shouted at Les to go find Jack, she never stirred. Davey had tears streaming down his face, blurring his vision, but he didn’t stumble as he carried Alice home. His mother would know what to do; she worked as a nurse for the local synagogue. He wouldn’t lose her, if he just moved fast enough. He couldn’t lose her.

When Mrs. Jacobs pulled back her ruined shirt and vest to clean the gashes in her skin, Alice woke to fear and pain. Davey held her hand and cupped her head in his hand so she would watch him and not his mother’s work. She tried to focus on his skin against hers instead of the holes torn inside her. 

“You’re gonna be okay,” He whispered to her, pressing his lips to her knuckles. It could have been a prayer or a promise. When Alice watched him say it, full of tears she wanted to brush away, she thought it could have been both. 

“I’m sorry,” She said, her voice weak. She’d never seen him so afraid and it hurt more to know she was the cause. “I made a mess of everything.”

“No,” He insisted, squeezing her hand. “Never.” Then he smiled through his tears and said, “You know, when Les was born I was so excited. I had my dad teach me how to wear a tie just so I could wear one when I met him.” He laughed roughly and it made Alice smile, even weakly, to think of little Davey Jacobs all dressed up for his brother’s birth. 

“When he arrived,” Davey continued, more steady now, “I got to hold him and he was so little, but so loud. But I knew when I saw him,” Davey kept her gaze, “I knew that he would be important, so important, in my life. And Alice…”

She froze when he said her name, marveling at the sound of it.

“When I met you, I knew you’d be important too. For different reasons, but I still knew. It was you. It was going to be you.”

She smiled and kissed Davey’s hand. She remembered saying, “I knew that too,” before her consciousness left her. 

Alice started awake one awful day later convinced she was drowning. Instead she found herself on the Jacobs’ couch, Jack slumped in a chair at her head, Davey sitting at her feet. There was a tense minute where Jack, Davey, and Davey’s mother explained to her all at once that she was going to be okay before she burst into tears. 

“I’m sorry,” She murmured into Jack’s shoulder while he held her. Davey stood by feeling helpless. “It was stupid. I shouldn’ta gone off on my own. I know I scared ya. I won’t leave ya like mum and da’, I promise.”

Jack cried and held her tighter, petting her hair softly. “I know,” He mumbled, over and over, “I know.” Until he pushed away and said, “You think I’d let ya go so easy?”

She smiled and laughed, only a single, painful huff, but it was enough. His sister was going to be okay. Jack stayed through the rest of the day, and only left to ease the fears of the newsies. Crutchie had been pacing last he saw him, Jack said, which Crutchie only did when his worry outweighed the effort of walking. Davey stayed with her. 

“I’m sorry,” She said again, unable to look him in the eyes. A Kelly wasn’t a safe thing to be, surely Davey, safe, kind, wonderful Davey, wouldn’t want anything to do with her now. 

“Stop saying that,” He told her as he sat down. “None of this was your fault. We’re gonna tell the governor. The Delanceys crossed a line.” He nearly growled the words. 

Alice still wouldn’t look up. Her eyes caught the blood staining the Jacobs’ couch. “Still,” She whispered, mostly to herself. 

Davey softened, his anger fading before her. He reached out and took her hand. “Do you remember what I said last night?” He asked, afraid to look away from her. She nodded. “Well, I meant it. Every word.”

Finally, Alice turned to him. “I hoped so.”

Davey couldn’t help but lean forward. It seemed to him that her dark blue eyes pulled at him. And when he pressed his lips against hers, she did not move away but pushed towards him, letting her other hand tangle itself in his hair. 

When they seperated, he felt her smile against his lips. She knew it was going to be him, for once in her life she could see a future, and she couldn’t wait.


End file.
